Oerlikon Balzers Coating USA Inc

Oerlikon Balzers is one of the world’s leading suppliers of surface technologies that significantly improve the performance and durability of precision components as well as tools for the metal and plastics processing industries. Extremely thin and exceptionally hard coatings, marketed under the BALINIT and BALIQ brand names, reduce friction and wear. Under the technology brand ePD, the companydevelops integrated services and solutions for the metallization of plastic parts with chrome effects. Oerlikon Balzers operates a dynamically growing network of currently 94 coating centers in 34 countries in Europe, the Americas and Asia. Oerlikon Balzers is – together with Oerlikon Metco - part of the Surface Solutions Segment of the Switzerland-based Oerlikon Group (SIX: OERL).

Products

BALINIT ALTENSA PVD COATING

BALINIT ALTENSA PVD COATING : AlCrN base coating produced by Oerlikon Balzers, a leader in Surface Solutions. This coating is the benchmark in coatings for gear cutting tools....
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Developing tailored tool coatings plays an especially key role in increasing cutting speeds, raising productivity and lowering costs when working with demanding gear-cutting processes.The outstanding performance dimensions that can now be achieved in this respect are demonstrated in customer tests carried out by automobile manufacturers and suppliers on the BALINIT ALTENSA AlCrN coating introduced by Oerlikon Balzers at in America in September, 2016.

In order to better utilize this principle and make even higher cutting speeds possible for manufacturers, the properties of coatings need to be tailored to the respective applications with ever increasing efficiency. Oerlikon Balzers has made another great step in this direction with a further new development. The BALINIT ALTENSA is the newest product in the successful AlCrN family and it stands out especially through its wear resistance and hot hardness. In light of the market demand for ever higher machining speeds, the coating properties at high temperatures were specifically targeted for optimization. “Essentially, we further reduced the thermal conductance and improved the hot hardness of the coating by a good 20 percent,” explains Wolfgang Kalss, Head of Marketing and Product Management for Cutting Tools. This has led to even higher resistance to crater wear, which can occur particularly at high service temperatures and reduces the useful life of the tool.

Moreover, the abrasive wear resistance was optimized by about 35 percent as was the oxidation resistance. This reduces the flank wear at moderate and high cutting speeds and it yields a longer tool service life, even with dry machining. The bottom line is that the numerous improvements in layer development enable considerable productivity gains with longer tool lifetimes, significant performance boosts at the highest cutting speeds for all substrates (PM HSS, MC90, carbide) as well as higher cutting speeds and feeds. Customer tests with various gear-cutting applications yielded corroborative results.

The versatility of BALINIT ALTENSA is also proven in lubricated machining, in which initial results demonstrate a significant increase in service life.
Tests by an automotive supplier demonstrated that productivity can also be clearly improved for carbide stick blades. At a cutting speed increase of 35 percent to vc=200 m/min, a 30 percent improvement in service life was also achieved at the same time. Another automotive supplier tested coated HSS shaper cutters (diameter of 130 mm) in lubricated machining and the tools lasted 140 percent longer.